Love Don't Die
by jcforever19
Summary: A short story about Jimmy and Cindy realizing that their 'love hate thing' is so much more than just a childish battle of wits. (Aged up to senior year of high school) Complete!
1. An Afternoon in Detention

**Hey y'all! I haven't written for this fandom in two years but I read a few fics and the love for JN came rushing back! Therefore, I wrote this despite how rusty I am. I still don't own JN, sadly.**

Mud tracks stained the linoleum floor. A faint aroma of lavender and rain lingered as it poured outside. Cindy Vortex gazed at her reflection in the window, barely surprised by what she saw. Her hair was a bit disheveled, wisps of her pin straight blonde hair struggled to come undone from her ponytail. Her lips were pursed and her cheek laid propped on her fist. She could hardly say she was pleased with herself. She was stuck in detention for the better part of her afternoon and her mother was going to kill her for it.

She ran through her schedule in her head. It was ingrained in her memory. She had a piano lesson at three thirty and a karate class to teach at four forty five and a session with her tutor at seven. Any time in between would be spent practicing for college interviews from notecards that littered her schoolbag, her purses, the pockets of all her jeans. Her life was consumed by tons of activities and sometimes she loved it; loved the hectic nature of it all, and other times, she seriously pondered how much of a point there was in being driven like a donkey from extra curricular to extra curricular every single day.

Today was one of the days when everything she did seemed fruitless. Of course the bad mood had only been set off by her arguments with a certain arrogant know it all-

The sound of footsteps jostled Cindy out of her thoughts. She rolled her eyes. "Neutron, what the hell are you doing here?" She knew exactly what he was doing here but it still slipped out by force of looked at him with contempt, wearing her eternal scowl. While he'd lost his signature hairstyle, he'd certainly made up for it with his ever distinctive abundance of pride and conceit. He was taller than her now, and was actually sort of decent looking. Not like that excused anything-he was still the most stuck up jerk she'd ever had the so called 'pleasure' of knowing.

"This is the detention room, Vortex, ergo, I am in detention. Simple associations escaping you now?"

"I don't need this." She murmured under her breath, still loud enough for him to catch.

"You know, neither of us would be here if you'd just shut your big mouth." He sighed with obvious boredom. His piercing blue eyes caught the light and Cindy felt the back of her neck growing hot for no reason whatsoever.

"My big mouth? I was trying to save our project from tanking by letting you know that your stupid source was wrong-"

"My source was perfectly fine, Vortex. I'll have you know my source was an essay by a highly accredited professor at Pomona Institute-"

"Yeah an essay written at least five years ago by a senile old crackpot-"

"This is what I mean. If you just trusted that I was right- for once-"

"See, that's the funny thing. You're only right about five percent of the time.

"Neutron sighed and stared at the swirling pattern of the wood that formed the surface of the desk in front of him.

"What do you have against me, Vortex?" He held his head in his hands.

"You can't be serious." She grumbled.

"I am serious. I could be in my lab right now, working on my mini particle engine."

She rolled her eyes. "I bet it blows up before dawn."

He gave a dry, sarcastic laugh. "Very funny. None of my inventions have blown up in over seven months. And that invention would have-"

"Oh right, the invention that exploded, cut off a good three inches off my hair, and turned Ms. Blake into a rhesus monkey."

"It was seven months ago and I said sorry." He gritted his teeth, knowing full well that he'd been entirely to blame for that little mishap. "Sorry doesn't grow back my hair before prom, Nerdtron!"

"Ahh, back to the juvenile insults then, Cindy?" He chuckled almost coldly. "Y'know that would only matter if you actually had someone to take." Cindy's sour expression gave away the true sting of his words.

"I am so done with you, Freak Brain." She turned her gaze back to the window, tears pooling in the corner of her eyes. That had been a bit harsh, even for him, he supposed. And he didn't mean it anyways- after all, all their insults were precipitated by the gentle knowledge that deep down they were sustained by their catty rivalry. Or at least he thought about it that way…

"Look, I'm sorry about the hair. And the source." There, he'd said it. He'd apologized as usual. She huffed and stared straight into the space ahead of her with no intention of forgiving him.

"I sort of think medium length hair is more…err practical." He added, thinking it might alleviate her obvious disappointment. She looked unamused.

"Says the idiot who almost burned up the chemistry lab because he caught his fudge hairdo on fire."

He breathed a sigh of relief. He hadn't said it yet. He hadn't uttered the insult that would one day cross the line and lead them to entirely separate existences. That day hadn't come yet, but he lived in the dread that it would. As did she, although he could not possibly know it.

The two sat in peaceful silence for a few seconds. Cindy absent mindedly tugged her hair around her finger. If he didn't know her, he'd probably think she was an angel. From afar, it wasn't too hard to admire her. She was determined and pretty…and although he hated to admit it…pretty damn intelligent. She was the only one who could hold a candle to his skills in this whole high school, possibly even this whole town.

He examined her carefully. Concern tugged at the edge of her face, and tight lines decorated her forehead. He worried once again that he had said something irreversible. He took an internal deep breath before he broke the silence.

"I was just kidding, Vortex. You'll probably be asked." She turned to look at him in slight surprise. "To prom." She scoffed.

"We'll see about that." She seemed satisfied for the time being, although a hint of her inner torment shone through in the way her words quivered. He thought for a second maybe there was someone she was hoping to be asked by, but brushed the thought away. Cindy Vortex wasn't the type to really care about this stuff, right? Things seemed to work out for her in the end. She'd be asked by some guy with sandy hair wearing overwhelming amounts of cologne. One of the many seniors in their grade.

And that thought made Jimmy's insides churn more than he would think reasonable. The more he pictured her going with George from AP Bio or Harry from AP Calculus or one of those other guys with a mere course load of three AP's, his heart sunk. He realized he didn't want her to go with some run of the mill loser with a 3.7 GPA and no knowledge of the nuances of Einstein's theories of special and general relativity. He shuddered at the thought. It wasn't like he _actually_ liked her or anything but he'd rather not see her atrophy in the company of some halfwit.

As the detention bell rung, he got up with a swiftness that was a bit uncharacteristic of him, and fled the room, giving Cindy a strangely nervous look on the way out. She rolled her eyes. Neutron could be such a dolt.


	2. 95 Problems But The Theses Ain't One

**I watched a few episodes of this show and I got the feel for it again so here goes!**

**This is a continuation of the first oneshot :) **

Jimmy had overslept after working on his particle engine all night and missed AP Physics, his first class of the day. It was no big deal anyways, it wasn't like he didn't already know everything there was to know about electromagnetism. He ambled into AP European History, yawning. _Boring. _If it weren't for the school's stupid humanities requirement he would be in all science and math classes.

He set his huge textbook down on the first desk. Martin Luther glared up at him in a smug sort of way, as if to remind him he was getting back his essay on the Protestant Reformation today. Suddenly, he heard the thump of a textbook on the desk next to his. A cross Cindy Vortex slumped into the seat beside him. Her lips were set in a thin line and her forehead was creased in an angry sort of way.

"What are you looking at, Neutron?" She barked at him with an intense viciousness.  
"Definitely not you." He sniggered, looking away swiftly.  
"Like I want Freak Brain breathing in my direction anyways."  
"You're really cheery today morning Vortex." He said sarcastically, mustering a smug grin.

"Oh, can it Neutron. I have more important things to worry about."

"Ahh, so like most of the female body at Retroville High, you've fallen prey to the obsession with that stupid dance-"

"It's not just a stupid dance you idiot, it's prom. Which you might know if you spent any time outside of that junky tin lab of yours." She pointed out.

"What makes it any different from other dances? People dance to dumb music about clubs and copulation-"

"Did you just say copulation?" She smirked. "Neutron, we don't live in the 16th century."

"Yes, Ms. Vortex, quite true. However, Martin Luther did live then, and a great deal of you clearly were not aware of that on your test." Their teacher, Ms. Churchill, a rather plump woman in her late thirties waved their tests in the air. "In fact, some of you failed to note that Martin Luther posted 95 theses, and not 9, so I'd remember that when you look at your grade."

"That's low, even for you Nerdtron."

Ms. Churchill passed back their tests with a frown on her face.

"Nice job, Vortex, Neutron. I can always count on you two to keep the class average above 70%." Jimmy shot Cindy a dirty look and held up his A+ test. She held up her own A+ test score in retort.

"Guess it wasn't me who was dumb enough to misjudge the number of Theses, Vortex. Although I can guess who it was." He shot a quick look at George in the back.

Cindy crossed her arms across her light pink sweater. "I'll have you know George takes 3 AP classes and runs track-"

"But let's face it. He can't tell the difference between the Renaissance and the Reformation." Cindy bit her lip. She had to admit his knowledge of European History was a bit sub-par. After all, he hadn't known that Henry IV was from France and that Henry VIII was from England and what kind of Euro student didn't keep his Henrys straight?

"At least he can tell when to keep his big mouth shut-"

"A trait I don't seem to remember you possessing either, Vortex-"

An exasperated Ms. Churchill walked up the aisle and glanced at Jimmy and Cindy. They were model students, but their arguments could get so damn annoying. She didn't know what they were arguing about but she wanted to break it up before it turned into an all out screaming match (as it had many a time before).

"Quiet class!" She shouted over Jimmy and Cindy's increasingly heated argument. "And if I have to shout again, you're all dropping by one letter grade on your next quiz. And I need not remind you that some of you have D averages in this class…"

-x-

History class felt like it had droned on forever. As the lunch bell run and everyone rushed out of class, Jimmy's head was spinning with thoughts of enlightened monarchs and Russian peasants and Cindy-

_Cindy? _He wondered where that had come from, although…he supposed he had been noticing her more often. For the rest of class she'd kept her mouth pursed and her arms crossed in a very hostile position. She had glanced out the window, barely paying attention to the lesson. All the same…she looked…he gulped..really sort of…pretty in her sea blue sweater. Her soft blonde bangs framed her emerald eyes and he couldn't quite wrest his mind from her sloping curves and petite pink lips.

He shook his head. _What was he thinking? _

He stopped at his locker and overheard Cindy talking to Libby a few lockers down.

"Girl, how did Britney get asked before you? Those ugly ass hair extensions weren't doing her look any good." Libby knew everything about everyone. It was sort of scary actually. Put her together with Cindy and together, they made a very scary pair of friends indeed.

Jimmy leaned his head in, interested in the reason behind Cindy giving him particular grief today morning.

"Ugh, I don't know. She does have a- well that's beside the point." She blushed. "And she was asked by Steven too. At this rate, I'll have to take Oleander."

"Are you out of your mind Cindy?" Libby had to give a laugh. "Oleander's like Carl. Allergic to everything from paste to sushi."

"Don't remind me. Even Carl was asked!" She looked very hurt, her green eyes shining with the glint of a few tears. Libby gave her a look.

"Girl, maybe you should have just taken Nick." Libby sighed.

"Nick is cute and all but he spends his weekends clearing out his parents' beer stash and skateboarding with those weird kids from the town over. Not exactly the paragon of intellectual superiority there." She said dryly, although her voice betrayed a tender note of disappointment.

Libby lowered her voice. "And Neutron?"

Cindy glared over at Jimmy who'd been at his locker for a suspiciously long amount of time.

"Nerdtron here is listening to our conversation. Not a surprise though since he has the manners of a three year old!"

Libby and Cindy glowered at him.

"Oh please, like I care about your vapidly inane discussions on hairstyles and prom dates." He scoffed. He noted how Cindy's face fell by a fraction as he made this comment, but he brushed past them and headed towards Carl and Sheen.

Cindy turned to Libby as soon as he was out of earshot. "Neutron is still as clueless as ever. Maybe you're right Libs. Maybe it's time to give up on him. I mean he did say prom was just a stupid dance in history today morning." She gazed after him longingly even as she said this and snapped out of it after a second.

Libby nodded silently."Let's head to lunch."


	3. A Fresh Sword

**Hello y'all! I'm getting close to finishing this short story, so here's the next chapter! **

**Please do leave a review, I'd love feedback on my interpretation of JxC :) **

**I do reference a wonderful poet by the name of Pablo Neruda whose love poems I highly enjoy. The particular poem of his I refer to is called 'Your Laughter' and I find that it's a fitting poem for this pairing!**

**So without further ado...here's some introspection!**

* * *

_"And Neutron?"_

All day, Libby's words had echoed in his head. During chemistry, during gym, and even during calculus. Now, the words seemed to throb with a particular intensity as he walked home. Why would Libby even ask Cindy that?

It confounded him beyond belief. Cindy Vortex hated him. She belittled him, told him on a daily basis that his inventions were failures, and took special care to argue with him about every little thing. If there was an argument to be had, Cindy would have it. If there wasn't an argument to be had, Cindy would _create_ it. She lived to push Jimmy's buttons. It was a fact of life, something as certain as the value of pi…and yet there was something there.

It was no secret that he and Cindy thrived on competition. Some of his best work, he grudgingly admitted, had been the result of challenges posed by Cindy. Without her, he was certain that he wouldn't be on his toes day and night to maintain his 101% average in almost every class.

Of course Vortex had him beat in English, his Achille's heel. English was quite literally another language to Jimmy. Verse and meter could not be parsed into atomic units. Grand expressions of love and loss had no place in the cut and dry world of science, and that was the way he liked it. The joy in science was that it remained blissfully objective. Equations were constant, conversions were constant, natural laws remained stationary. English, however was open to interpretation. Cindy seemed to love English for this very reason. From a young age, her grasp of language and human emotion had far exceeded Jimmy. This had always been a source of irritation to him- he who could understand and explain the quadratic formula by the tender age of five, he who could recite the Laws of Thermodynamics in his sleep- could not head nor tail of literature.

Cindy never missed an opportunity to rub her mastery of the written word in Jimmy's face. And yet, as he considered this, for the first time, a realization dawned on him slowly, but surely.

He was loathe to admit it- but he admired Cindy's painless comprehension of Byron, of Shelley, of Fitzgerald. He admired her deep understanding of passion and pride, of matters of soul and heart. He could picture her as she stood last week in class, holding the poem she had chosen to bring to share. Her voice rung clearly in his mind, reciting with great vigor and sentiment, the ardent poetry of Pablo Neruda. _My love, in the darkest hour your laughter __opens…and if suddenly, you see my blood staining the stones of the street, laugh…because your laughter will be for my hands like a fresh sword._

Jimmy stood frozen in his tracks. How was it he remembered these lines from memory? He couldn't shake the image of Cindy's hands trembling as she held the piece of paper in her hand. He couldn't shake the image of Cindy's gentle blush at that last line- that last line about laughter being a fresh sword…

And as if a springboard, from there his mind proceeded to play flashes of Cindy's smile…her light laughter…he longed to remember the rest of the poem, he longed to understand this girl who seemingly hated him…it came to him in staccato bursts and he felt like everything was closing in on him. The world whirled around him and his thoughts were littered with images of Cindy…he took a deep breath and continued walking.

_"And Neutron?"_

Something in Libby's tone…even Jimmy could tell there was some hope there, some distantly unasked question lying in the query. Was he to take this as a sign that Cindy did not just think of him as a rival? That she expected him to-conform to societal norms, to ask her to this dance she agonized over?

He went back to the start and worked through it. His name had appeared in a conversation regarding Cindy's lack of a date to prom. Oleander, Nick, Carl, _Neutron. _It went against everything Jimmy knew- why was he even on this list?

It was giving him a headache to think of all this. And lingering still was that aching impression of Cindy's disappointment seared across his brain. He felt that he had let her down in some way by not asking her to this dance.

But what was there to let down? It would only matter to her if- if she actually wanted to go with him. And that was beyond impossible, right?

His eyes widened for a second at the very thought. It was ludicrous- Cindy wanting to go with him to anything. Ah- well, that wasn't quite true. She had make it a point to push her way into all his childhood adventures, begrudgingly or not. She was in every single class that he was in. She was in some ways, always around, always going with him to everything. And so in that sense it would be reasonable for her to want him to go with her to this dance too, right?

And there had been some less than hostile moments between the two- their first kiss so many years ago in that alley, their soft contact following really heated arguments, and so many others. They weren't as antagonistic to each other as one would assume…and of late, while there had certainly been a fair share of squabbles and blowups, there had been concessions…there had been times when the two would gaze over at each other and look away quickly as if a single look would burn their eyes.

Jimmy sighed. It was so hard to fathom the exact juncture he had reached. It both annoyed and upset him, and he wasn't sure if he was right in his absurd ideas about Cindy's possible dejection over his failure to recognize some vague hint she was throwing him-

But he remembered once more Neruda's straightforward lines. Maybe it didn't matter exactly where they stood- as long as she was happy. It surprised him to realize he prioritized her happiness above all else…maybe because her laughter was to him the mental equivalent of _a fresh sword..._


	4. In The Gray

**Hello everyone! I apologize that I haven't updated in almost three weeks but it's been hard to motivate myself to write for a fandom that seems to be dying out. However my love for Jimmy and Cindy never really dies, so I've finally got myself up to the task of completing this story!**

**Thank you to all who read and reviewed, I hope you will do so for this last chapter as well...I tried my best to do justice to the characters. I would appreciate feedback on the story as a whole!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own JN!**

** Now on to the story!**

* * *

Cindy stared intently at the paisley pattern on her rug. It had been a long day. Besides forgetting her lunch money and her chemistry homework and only getting a freaking A _minus_ on her French test (she knew Neutron would make some sophomoric crack about her less than impressive language skills if he found out), there was also the added misery of knowing Neutron would never figure out that she wanted to go with him to prom.

Of course, that would only be a valid desire for her to have if he cared about prom at all, which he clearly didn't. He'd continually pointed out to her this week that senior prom was inane and overpriced and tacky. And if Cindy was being honest with herself, why would he go with her when there were plenty of eligible candidates who didn't mock and deride him on a daily basis? He could go with his lab partner in Biology—Ella, or that sweet girl who had once been partnered with him on a Latin project…what was her name? Cindy couldn't remember. And the other day when the two had been stuck in detention together, he'd all but straight out told her that she wasn't exactly in high demand. And for good reason too, she supposed. She was perfectly capable of being overbearing, and sometimes flat out bitchy. The people who knew the parts of her that weren't tinged with bitterness or anger were few and far in between. The point was that she couldn't possibly be mad at him for not being able to figure her out. And yet that was what made her so mad. If he was such a goddamn genius, shouldn't he have worked out exactly how Cindy thought of him?

She knew she could be spiteful and grating, but at least she wasn't outright _dense_ when it came to people. Neutron was hopeless when it came to reading people's emotions. He certainly hadn't been successful at decoding her. There were times when he seemed on the brink of an epiphany, and as customary, he would either back away in fear of falling, or turn and run in the opposite direction out of general obliviousness.

Cindy had been so sure that when he'd offered her the pearl on the island all those years ago, he had been on the verge of formally acknowledging their 'love hate thing' (or so Libby had christened it), but her hopes had waned as they went back to a meaningless continuum of bickering after returning to Retroville. Again, she'd allowed herself momentary optimism after he'd kissed her in the alleyway following the news broadcast when Libby had gone berserk and revealed to the whole town that perhaps the 'love hate thing' was turning into all love, all the time. She wouldn't have minded that being the case, but unfortunately, life rarely took into account what Cindy wanted. Like their previous more-than-friendly interactions, the kiss was soon brushed off with all of that eager tween awkwardness. Of course Cindy had never forgotten any of it, but she assumed it would be preposterous to expect a thick headed idiot like Nerdtron to remember just why it was so important that they held each other at bay.

In the end it all boiled down to failure. It was almost like a chemical reaction that almost hit the critical point, but didn't follow through. Put together two completely conflicting elements and not only would the resulting equation be less than satisfactory, it would also be half-hearted. Cindy had tried again and again over the years to understand why the damn 'love hate thing' had never come to fruition, but she stopped short when she realized they were just fundamentally different people. Cindy didn't delegate science to feelings like Jimmy did. She didn't try to see formulas and laws in everything, and above all, she didn't assign binary notation to a world that functioned in the gray.

Cindy shifted her focus to the stack of textbooks on her desk. Silently, she walked over and picked up the crumpled sheet that lay atop the heap. It was the poem she had read to her English class the other day. It was straightforward, but by no means superficial.

She didn't know why but she was possessed with an urge to read it aloud, to mull it over in the relative peace of her room. _I want your laughter like the flower I was waiting for, the blue flower._

How heartbroken she had been all those years ago on the island when Libby and Sheen and Carl had washed ashore to rescue them. Jimmy had been so happy at the thought of returning home…and he'd assigned all of them tasks to complete and forgotten about her in the blink of an eye. She still recalled, with a lump rising in her throat, the way she'd trudged off into the wood, dismantling his blue hibiscus from her hair and letting it fall face down on the hot sand. That one moment seemed to characterize the whole thing—the love hate thing was governed first and foremost by a sense of disappointment.

She forced herself to continue reading the poem through the film of tears that had formed on her eyes. _Laugh at the twisted streets of the island, laugh at this clumsy boy who loves you…when my steps go…when my steps return…_

* * *

CRASH!

A mound of metal and fudge colored hair lay on the floor of Cindy's room. Cindy awoke with a start from her position on her bed. "What the hell Neutron?"

Jimmy groaned and took her outstretched hand. He was met with an expression of bewilderment and anger. "You know, normal people would just knock on the front door."

"Sorry...I've still got a few bugs to work out on my new jet pack. This one can go to new elevations and is supposed to-"

"Spare me the scientific yada yada and tell me why you were so kind as to drop by, Nerdtron." She took a very sarcastically kind tone of voice for this jab.

Neutron didn't seem deterred at all by her obvious frustration.

"See I had to tell you-"

Suddenly, Cindy noticed a streak of red running across his shirt. "Neutron, you're bleeding-"

"I'm fine, Cindy-" Cindy shook her head and ran to her bathroom to get him some tissues to clean off the wound with. "I don't know why you couldn't just come in through the front door-" She dabbed gently at his shoulder.

He waved his hand dismissively, slightly wincing in pain as he did so. "Not significant. See, Cindy, I came here because of a fresh sword."

Cindy looked at him like he was deranged. "Are you sure that little crash landing didn't just impact your giant head? Because I don't know what you're talking about..."

"Of course you know what I'm talking about, Vortex." His eyes caught the light and she found herself taking a sharp intake of breath. He was much too awe-inspiring for her not to marvel at his very being. As soon as she caught herself, she snapped back into her cross mood.

His gaze landed on the poem that she'd torn to pieces and thrown on her bedside table. He picked it up, noting the stains across the last few verses.

"Were you crying, Vortex?" He seemed surprised, and turned back to her. She blushed but then reminded herself to get a grip...

"What's it to you, Neutron?" Her words hung in the air with a caustic sort of implication.

Jimmy turned his attention back to the pieces of the poem. He cleared his throat. "Cindy, Neruda helped me - err come to an interesting conclusion."

"And what might that be?" She was growing impatient once more.

"Hear me out." His voice was calm but commanding. It was more serious than she'd ever heard it before. She quieted and nodded.

"I enjoy seeing you happy and Einstein knows why...but there's some sadistic part of me that's always thought of you...as..." He swallowed the lump of fear that had settled in his throat. "More than just a rival."

Cindy felt her cheeks redden despite her iron will to not react to his words. She couldn't help it.

He gently took her hands. "You've always been around y'know? I mean granted, you are always yelling at my friends and I, and making a big deal about the fact that some of my inventions-" He caught the glare in her eyes and corrected himself, "Okay, _most_ of my inventions cause a minimal amount of havoc."

"Minimal? Neutron-" Jimmy held up a hand. "I'm not finished yet, Cindy."

"The thing is, we've always been arguing with each other and picking on each other and we've had our fair share of distress come of that-" He shot an accusing glance at her before he knotted his hands behind his neck and continued. "What I'm trying to say is-"

"Get to the point, Nerdtron!" She screeched.

"Jeez Cindy, I'm spilling my heart out to you here-"

"Sorry." Cindy muttered, grudgingly.

"As I was saying, I was thinking about that poem you read in class the other day and I realized it's not an isolated incident. I think about you a lot." He admitted, turning red himself. "You're smart...and you sure as heck have me beat with Shakespeare and Byron and all those old authors...and you don't...err- look-all that bad-" Her face fell by a fraction and he quickly amended himself, feeling terrible instantly. "I mean you're really pretty and you still smell nice and I just appreciate having someone on my level, y'know?"

She perked up immediately. "You think of me on your level?" She whispered.

"Of course Cindy. You're the only person in this whole town who can hold a candle to my genius."

"Way to be modest." She mocked, although inside, she was burning with joy.

"Okay scratch that. You're smart on your own terms. And although I hate to admit it..." He shuddered. "You really have a lot going for you. Me? I just do experiments and lab reports and create a bunch of explosive-prone stuff. But you can run, sing, write, do karate, and handle a test tube better than any girl I've ever met, Cindy."

"And all things considered...I think- I- I l-l-"

"Just say it, Neutron!"

"I love you okay, Vortex! For the love of Tesla..."

"You love me?" She was speechless, yet still skeptical. "Is this a trick?"

Jimmy looked hurt. "After all I've said you really think I was kidding?"

"Of course not...sorry..."She was unable to say anything much more...

"I just thought I'd let you know. It's not like I expected you to say it back. But I thought I should let you know because...it needed to be said. And-" His voice grew quiet. "And I would understand if I had to return the prom tickets I got for us-"

Her eyes grew wide with shock. "Oh Jimmy, you got us tickets to prom? I thought you said it was shallow and trite and-"

He held up a hand again. "I know what I said. But it obviously means a lot to you. And it would be an awfully good time to test my hypothesis about beer working as an aphrodisiac. I suppose it would be amusing to watch Brittney get with Bolbi under the influence-but that's really besides the point." He looked up at her shyly with his deep, probing eyes. "Cindy, will you go with me?"

Cindy threw her arms around the startled teen genius.

"Of course I'll go with you!" She was overjoyed. "Took long enough to come to your senses, you dork!" She remarked as she pulled away, smirking.

"Why can't girls just tell people what they want?" He shook his head in disbelief.

"Nothing worth having comes easy..." She remarked dryly. He snickered. "I guess we know that all too well, don't we?" He pulled her in by the waist and brushed his lips against hers gently. She cupped his cheek and kissed him back. It was a great feeling. This was true closure.

* * *

**A/N: I hope you liked this story and the fluff in this last chapter! I'm not the best at fluff since I work better with brooding angst and anger. Like I said, I would really appreciate feedback on how I can better portray these characters in future stories! Thanks for reading :)**


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